


The Oblivious River (the It Was Always Going to End This Way remix)

by missbecky



Category: Dragon Quest VIII
Genre: Angst, Character Death, Gen, Remix
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-09-16
Updated: 2012-09-16
Packaged: 2017-11-14 09:41:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,143
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/513879
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/missbecky/pseuds/missbecky
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>You don't threaten someone like Marcello and expect there to be no consequences.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Oblivious River (the It Was Always Going to End This Way remix)

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [The Oblivious River](https://archiveofourown.org/works/502375) by [SwordofRebecca](https://archiveofourown.org/users/SwordofRebecca/pseuds/SwordofRebecca). 



Hyacinth wasn't really surprised when Marcello attacked them in the forest outside Baccarat – but he was disheartened. He had thought his warning was perfectly clear: if Marcello ever showed his face again, his life was forfeit.

It wasn't much of a battle. Marcello was still nursing the wounds from Neos, and all his moves were off, and just a little bit too slow. None of them held back, but it was Angelo who dealt the fatal blow, a stabbing strike that finally sent Marcello limping off through the trees.

For a long moment they all just stood there, uncertain that what had just happened had really happened. Angelo was the first to stir himself into action. "We have to find him," he said dully. "We have to finish it."

It was the only thing left to do – yet Hyacinth would have given anything to be spared that awful truth. He let Angelo take the lead as they searched through the forest. It was perhaps cowardly, but he hoped that they would find only a body, that Angelo would be spared the pain of having to watch his brother die.

"He can't have gone far," Jessica said. She gazed toward a meandering river, a frown line marring her brow as she tried to make sense of the day's events. "Why did he do this?" And then before he could even open his mouth, she turned on Yangus. "And don't say I told you so!"

Yangus shrugged. "Not sayin' anything," he said, not unkindly.

Hyacinth scanned the horizon, looking for a place where a dying man might make his last stand. "There." He pointed toward a cluster of rocks near the river Jessica had spotted.

Wordlessly they approached. Marcello was there, the river at his back. He held the hilt of his epee over the bleeding wound in his stomach. He did not look at them as Angelo stepped forward and relieved him of the weapon. There was something like resignation in his green eyes – and maybe even the glistening of tears. Behind him, the river moved along, heedless of the human drama unfolding before it.

For a long moment, no one spoke. Hyacinth tried to catch Yangus and Jessica's attention so he could signal them to move away. They did not need to be here for this. But Yangus was watching Marcello intently and Jessica had eyes only for Angelo, and so Hyacinth remained where he was.

"This could have been avoided," Angelo finally said. He sounded tired and old, so much older than he was. "You didn't have to do this. We—"

Marcello glared at him, silencing him even now, when he was on the verge of death. "Shut the fuck up," he snapped. Hyacinth had never heard him use profanity like that before; it was a sign of how far gone he was.

Ignoring their shocked reactions, Marcello turned to stare at the river. There were definitely no tears in his eyes now, and Hyacinth decided he had been mistaken earlier to think so. Men like Marcello did not weep easily, especially at moments like this. "Let me die in peace."

Even at the end, Marcello was in complete command.

No one spoke. Angelo stared resolutely into the distance, his eyes bleak. Yangus shuffled away from the river, keeping as far back as possible while still keeping Marcello in his sights and within striking distance. Jessica seemed like she wanted to speak, but she held her tongue and just shook her head and looked around helplessly.

Hyacinth said nothing. He could feel tears burning the backs of his eyes, but he felt no shame over them. Let the others think what they wanted. He was not grieving for Marcello.

His grief was for Angelo, for his friend, his beloved. The months of traveling together had given him insight into all his companions. He knew what drove Angelo, knew the Knight's desperate desire to make peace with Marcello. Now that would never come to pass. It all ended here, beside this oblivious river, under the hot sun.

He alone marked the moment when Marcello's eyes closed and the life left him. A short time later Angelo looked down and saw, and he stiffened and drew in a sharp breath.

Jessica went to him immediately. "Angelo, I'm so sorry." Hyacinth envied her then, her ease with the words, her ability to offer comfort so quickly. He wished he could do the same, even while he knew he could not.

Angelo raised a hand before she could draw too close. "Please," he said. "Just leave me alone." He walked away from them, away from Marcello and the river.

Hyacinth tensed, ready to intervene if Jessica tried to follow, but she had the sense to stay where she was.

Angelo turned around. He looked at each of them, but saw none of them. Tears streamed down his face. "He was right," he said, almost choking on the words. "I would…I do." His breath caught and he bit his lip, trying to stop crying.

There were a great many magics in this world, and Hyacinth knew many of them, but he knew of no magic that would let him turn back time and undo the terrible wrongs that had been done at Maella Abbey. He could only imagine what might have been, if Marcello had never turned against his hated half-brother, if Angelo had never stood in the cloisters or the stone cells as he surely did now, biting his lip to keep from crying, wondering what he had ever done to deserve Marcello's condemnation and what he could do to make things right between them.

And maybe it would not have mattered, even if he could reverse time. Maybe it had always been meant to end like this.

Angelo tightened his grip on the sword he had taken from Marcello. He lifted his head. He was not crying now. "I'll be keeping this. It means nothing to him now."

Hyacinth nodded, accepting this decision. It was Angelo's right to hold the sword, although he was not sure how wise it was.

"I'd like to be alone, please," Angelo murmured. He glanced once toward the river and his brother's body, then looked away again.

Without a word, Yangus and Jessica backed away. Jessica was in tears now, maybe thinking of the brother she had lost, maybe grieving for Angelo. She let Yangus put a comforting arm about her shoulders as he led her deeper into the forest.

Hyacinth lingered for a moment. He wanted to find the right words to say, even though he was pretty certain that none would suffice. While he hesitated, Angelo looked up and saw him standing there. "Don't," he said. "Please don't."

Such a request could not be refused. Hyacinth swallowed hard and nodded at his friend.

Slowly he walked away.

*******


End file.
